De Barmhartige Samaritaan 1896

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this print of the Good Samaritan. Look closely, and you will see how different blocks were used to layer the colors, from light tan to cool gray and black. He would have carved a separate woodblock for each, in a painstaking process. The nature of the wood gives the final image a graphic strength. Cachet was highly influenced by the British Arts and Crafts movement, which emphasized hand-making and the value of traditional skills in a rapidly industrializing world. He wasn't interested in making fine art, but rather in bringing art into everyday life. The story of the Good Samaritan, helping a stranger in need, reinforces the value of work. Cachet has translated this message into a different medium, using the labor-intensive method of woodblock printing to make the image. The choice of material, the way it was made, and the symbolic meaning of the image work together. The visual aesthetic qualities of the work are inseparable from its wider cultural meaning.